Life Study (Study of an Egyptian Girl)

1891

Sargent traveled to Egypt in 1891 in search of source material for a mural commission for the Boston Public Library. Like many 19th-century Western European artists, he was drawn to the Middle East’s perceived exoticism and its ancient histories. The identity of the woman who posed in Cairo for this full-length figure study is not known. Life Study was widely exhibited, including at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

Public domain · CC0
Free to download and reuse. Image courtesy of Art Institute of Chicago.

Artist

John Singer Sargent (American, 1856–1925)

Date

1891

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

190.5 × 61 cm (75 × 24 in.)

Origin

Egypt

Collection

Art Institute of Chicago

Credit

Anonymous loan